When Chen Yingxiong got off the bus with his teammates, a lot of media had already gathered on both sides of the aisle.
When the media saw hat Chen Yingxiong, Anyukov, Denisov and Kerzakov had come out, they rushed over. Flashlights flashed, and countless microphones were held in front of them.
"Can you tell me what you did in Katyusha that night?"
Some reporters even asked them in a sarcastic tone. "What is the quality of Katyusha's girls?"
Faced with such humiliation, Denisov and the others lowered their heads and said nothing, just wanting to get through quickly. They were all experienced veterans...
But the young Chen Yingxiong couldn't stand this kind of humiliation.
He rolled his eyes. "What's it to you?"
It would have been fine if they hadn't said anything, but when Chen Yingxiong started talking, the reporters got excited. "Is it natural for professional players to hang out in nightclubs?"
"Chen Yingxiong, will you be punished for this? Will you still start this game?"
"Won't hanging out in nightclubs affect your performance in the game, Chen Yingxiong?"
"Condition" was now Chen Yingxiong's Achilles' heel. He had been tortured by this word in the past two days. He didn't expect that there were still reporters who would bring up all these issues in front of him as well.
He paused. "Condition?"
"Yes, Chen Yingxiong. Don't you think this will affect your condition?"
Chen Yingxiong wanted to scold this blind reporter, but when Captain Radimov, who had a lot of experience in dealing with reporters, saw that Chen Yingxiong was about to get angry, he quickly pulled him back and said, "Hero, don't talk about this with them, or you won't know how you died!"
He certainly knew what kind of morals the reporters had, or rather, which morals they didn't have. If you said anything, they would twist it into something else. They had the right to speak, and you? Forget about it.
So Radimov quickly pulled Chen Yingxiong away. He knew that Chen Yingxiong was an inexperienced young man. If he was deceived by the media, it would be a disaster. Chen Yingxiong had been in enough trouble recently...
Chen Yingxiong was unwilling to be dragged away like this. The reporters were still shouting at him. "You just scored two goals and you followed your teammates to the nightclub. Are you perhaps too proud?"
Chen Yingxiong stopped, and Radimov couldn't pull him away, so he just worried there like a mother with a violent child. Chen Yingxiong raised his hand and pointed at the reporters. "You doubt my condition? Then I will show you how good I am today!"
After saying this, without waiting for Radimov, he turned and walked into the passage.
A group of reporters looked at each other, not understanding what was going on.
To be honest, "uncrowned king" was the title that many journalists were most proud of. They thought that with such a title, they could be the real "king" everywhere, pointing fingers at others and making judgments. It's not that they had never been contradicted by others, but being contradicted by an 18-year-old child was still a rare experience.
"Isn't this Chen Yingxiong too arrogant?" a reporter complained after realizing what had happened.
"He's already so arrogant after only scoring two goals. Who knows what he will become if he scores more?"
"Young people nowadays really don't respect their elders."
"There's no way he'll succeed. A person with this kind of personality won't be able to get anywhere no matter how talented they are." An old reporter who looked experienced took a puff of his cigarette and said in a final tone.
…
In the corridor, Radimov was trying to comfort Chen Yingxiong. "Why are you fighting with them? I tell you, Yingxiong, you can't beat them. They are ruthless. If you offend them, you will suffer in the future."
Chen Yingxiong had an unconvinced expression on his face. "I just can't accept it. Can they just say that about others like that?"
"In fact, they can..." Radimov spread his hands. "Don't offend the pen, Hero."
Chen Yingxiong muttered. "Anyway, I just feel unhappy..."
Radimov knew that Chen Yingxiong was young and full of vigour. In addition, it had been smooth sailing for him since he had joined the first team. Radimov had also been like this in his youth. After experiencing more, he naturally became more open-minded.
He patted Chen Yingxiong on the back and said, "Okay, Yingxiong, think about how you are going to score three goals in the game."
Chen Yingxiong initially had doubts about whether he could score three goals, but now, inspired by the reporters, he was burning with passion.
Fuck your free speech! Today I'm going to show you that going to nightclubs has nothing to do with condition! I will go to nightclubs and score a lot of goals! Let's see what you bitches will do when that happens!
…
The siege that Chen Yingxiong suffered from journalists today was just the aftermath of the newspapers in the past two days. After Chen Yingxiong, Denisov, Anyukov and Kerzakov were exposed hanging out in nightclubs, a criticism campaign had already begun in the local media in St. Petersburg.
As the most popular Zenit player in the last two rounds of the league, Chen Yingxiong, who scored two goals in a row, was naturally the main target of criticism.
The media all thought that Chen Yingxiong showed up at the nightclub just after scoring two goals for the first team, which showed that he was a little too proud of himself. If they were Advocaat, they would have excluded Chen Yingxiong from the starting lineup. Such a player who ignored team discipline should not be used!
Others believed that Chen Yingxiong's nightclub visit would definitely affect his performance. It was a pity for this young man who scored two goals in two consecutive starts. He should have had an extremely bright future. Now it seems that he will at least take a detour...
...
Yesenin was sitting on the sofa in the dormitory, reading a newspaper.
The TV in front of him was playing a TV program before the game started. The host and experts were analyzing the starting lineups of both sides. Chen Yingxiong was on the list.
Today was the match day, but he was not going to watch the game in person, because Chen Yingxiong's current Russian level was sufficient for daily communication, and he did not need him as an interpreter.
There were quite a few lengthy articles in the newspapers criticizing these four players. Among them, Chen Yingxiong became a celebrity because he had scored two goals recently. Naturally, he became the focus of critique.
The criticisms above were much more pointed than the problems Chen Yingxiong encountered on the court today.
So, the reporters still gave Chen Yingxiong some face in person...but Chen Yingxiong was young and energetic and didn't appreciate it at all.
The vast majority of people questioned whether going to nightclubs would affect Chen Yingxiong's condition...it seemed that "nightclubs" and "poor condition" had been equated.
So Yesenin was particularly interested now, he wanted to see how Chen Yingxiong would fight back.
Talent skills were very good and powerful, but they could not guarantee that Chen Yingxiong could complete a hat trick. So to put it bluntly, if he wanted to score three goals, what he needed most was his own ability - not even necessarily the ability in terms of football skills, but the quality of will and courage.
This mission...how are you going to complete it, Hero?
…
The reporters in the media seats were all surprised when they saw the starting lineups of both teams.
Not only Chen Yingxiong, but also the other two players who participated in the nightclub incident were on the list! Zenit St. Petersburg's starting lineup was exactly the same as the last game against Vladivostok Light Energy...
They really didn't understand.
"What is Advocaat thinking?"
"Is he condoning hanging out in nightclubs?"
"This is not a good sign... I am a little worried about Zenit's performance this season. The coach was changed in the middle of the season, and the new head coach can't control his players..."
Of course, some reporters were quite happy.
"Didn't Chen Yingxiong say that he wanted us to see his condition today? Here's the chance!"
…
When the game started, Chen Yingxiong found that he had met his match...
When Kerzakov passed the ball to him as promised, he jumped up but failed to head the ball because he was blocked by someone. The two people collided in the air, neither of them fell to the ground, but both missed the ball.
After Chen Yingxiong landed, he looked at the person who was blocking his view.
The name printed on the back of that man was Booth.
Since joining the Russian Premier League, he finally met a central defender who was taller and stronger than him.
…
The head coach of Soviet Wings, Gadji Gadjiev, had obviously put in a lot of effort into this game. He carefully studied Chen Yingxiong's performance in the first two games. Just because the assistant coach of the Light Energy Team couldn't get the game video, it didn't mean that no one else could get it. It just depended on whether they were willing or not.
By analyzing the game videos, he found that Chen Yingxiong's headers were very good. But disregarding the headers, he did not shoot a single time in the two games! Yes, it was shooting with his feet, that was his weakness!
Gadzhiev was shocked by his own conclusion - to be honest, he hadn't believed that there were still such one-dimensional players with biased academic performances in professional football today.
But for now, he could only choose to believe his conclusion. In order to defend Chen Yingxiong, he sent in the two central defenders with the best air defence ability-Matthew Booth and Andriy Husin.
Matthew was 1.99 meters tall, weighed 95 kilograms, and was a South African international.
Andre Hussin was 1.89 meters tall and weighed 78 kilograms.
These two men were both experienced defenders, and they were perfect for dealing with rookies like Chen Yingxiong.
Gadzhiev stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, looking at the field.
He was now waiting to test the results of his arrangement with an actual match.